Cold weather and bats question...

[SoftballDad44]

My DD made the Jr High team this year. This will be the first time she has had to play consistently in cooler or cold weather. She has several composite bats (LXT, Xeno, Mako) that we would like to take care of. What do most people do to keep your bats warm in the dug out? I know they make several sleeves or covers... What about a portable heater for the bats? What do Yall recomend? Or do you do nothing at all?

 

[quincy]

It is probably a waste of time and effort to keep the bats warm. The ball becomes hard as a rock, which you have no control over.

A heater and other “electronic” devices might be illegal. If someone recommends one of those, check with your coach if it is legal before you get one.

Congratulations to your DD for making the Team!

 

[JAD]

It is probably a waste of time and effort to keep the bats warm. The ball becomes hard as a rock, which you have no control over.

This^^^^. The hardening of the softball is the problem, not the temperature of the bat. You can get a bat to use for cold weather or pick your least favorite of the three composites and hope for the best. Hitting in cold weather is not recommended by bat manufacturers and supposedly voids the warranty, but I have never seen one break because of cold weather, but we generally will not play or practice outdoors if it is less than 40 degrees.

 

[cuzmail]

Get your DD an older or cheaper bat to use when the temps drop and keep the good ones for better weather.

 

[4 girl's dad]

This^^^^. The hardening of the softball is the problem, not the temperature of the bat. You can get a bat to use for cold weather or pick your least favorite of the three composites and hope for the best. Hitting in cold weather is not recommended by bat manufacturers and supposedly voids the warranty, but I have never seen one break because of cold weather, but we generally will not play or practice outdoors if it is less than 40 degrees.

I had never seen a bat break due to weather temp either, especially at 12u and under. But a parent showed me a cf5 that basically looked like it burst after using it in the cold. Opened my eyes a little.


We have a couple older cf's that we use when it's cold but my dd is only 9 so I doubt she will break it.

 

[slingnit]

Never had problems with composite bats in cold weather but if they happen to use aluminum then that's another story. They dent pretty easy when temps drop.

 

[JAD]

I had never seen a bat break due to weather temp either, especially at 12u and under. But a parent showed me a cf5 that basically looked like it burst after using it in the cold. Opened my eyes a little.

I have seen a Worth Legit shatter in mid-July, so that is not exclusive to cold weather.

 

[Comp]

Bat warmers are illegal under NFHS rules as well as is any type of artificially warming the bat. The only composite bat I have ever seen break was during the summer so cold temps had nothing to do with it. But, I did personally see 3 Rocketech bats break in half on the same day in the same tournament and the temps were in the mid 40's.

 

[JAD]

People need to realize that a bat made as hot as legally allowed will have a shorter lifespan than one made to work in all conditions. It is like having a high performance race car and expecting it to be as reliable as the family sedan.....people need to view bats as a disposable piece of equipment (like batting gloves) and if you get more than a year out of one you should consider yourself lucky. My DD gets a new bat every year (thanks to some great deals from CoreSoftball20), and she uses last years bat for BP and in cold weather and her new bat for nice weather games.

 

[Frenchy101010]

My daughter got a cheap aluminum bat on ebay for $30 to hit in the cold (under 50), and to hit in the batting cages.

She has had her CF5 break, not from weather though. And the replacement (CF7) is stamped "No Replacement", so we are just being careful with it.